World's Greatest Kid

Araceli got the award for the "World's Greatest Kid!" I can't believe how lucky we are to have the greatest kid in the entire world living at our house! And, as if that weren't enough, she got a perfect report card. All 3's! One hundred percent perfect is pretty good!

Araceli's challenge as a second grader is that her emotions are bigger than everyone else's. If most people are happy and sad and angry, Ari is ecstatic and inconsolable and livid. Sometimes it seems like a huge, wild beast is living inside of Araceli and her little body isn't strong enough to keep it bottled up, even with the incessant art she creates to let her feelings out. We decided it might be helpful for her to see a therapist. At first I was nervous. I thought the therapist might say, "There's nothing wrong with this child. Now get out of my office and be a better parent!" On the contrary, I realized that of course nothing is wrong with this child. She is beautiful, but therapy can be hugely beneficial anyway, and her therapist seems to agree. They talk about all kinds of ways to help take the frustration out of situations that can really get to an eight-year-old who is smack in the middle of a pretty large family. Araceli has a special role to play in our family as the middle child, and it is tough being everything at once: daughter, big sister, little sister, good example, tag-along, student, friend, and just plain little girl.

Araceli is a strong little thing. She accepts all of her roles in the family and goes out the door each morning ready to conquer her job as a second grader. Apparently, she is really good at it! We're so proud of her. I was shocked when the teacher's goal for Ari was to "talk louder when she is presenting in front of the class." It's funny how, as a parent, you think you know your child so well. I never imagined Ari as someone who would be shy in front of an audience. It's a good reminder that, in addition to the pressures of home, these kids have an entire universe to deal with at school, full of complex friendships, high teachers' expectations and myriad demands that I have no idea exist.

No wonder her schoolwork reads, "On a cold winter day I would snugle up in a blanket and drink hot chocolet and sit on the cawtch." That sounds like just the thing to do when being eight just gets to be too much.